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June 8, 2016

Be True To Yourself And Answer To (Almost) No One

I seldom go off on any kind tangent that is deeply flavored with anger on this blog. I often do in the real world, but seldom do on the blog. FB has its own set of peculiarities that causes me to rant over there, albeit very carefully.

A few weeks ago, Memorial Day weekend to be exact, which coincidentally was my anniversary of year #9 in blogging (click here to read the opening salvo heard 'round the corner and down the street), I went surfing through my vast collection of photographs, specifically looking for anything that I could post for Memorial Day. Amongst those pics that I found usable were these three gems:

Now, being the super duper smart readers that I know everyone to be, please take a guess at what two pics were ultimately posted on Facebook. If you guessed left and center, you would be absotively posilutely correct. Plus you would win a Kewpie doll, or a good quality cigar from a good tobacconist, whichever rocks your boat or floats your world.

Now it just so happens that all three pics were taken at the same place in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during my last real/normal vacation in 2008. I'm into the Civil War, just like my later father was. But, I'm not here to talk about that, I'm here to talk about that pic on the right.

The main reason as to why that pic didn't get posted on Facebook, is directly due to political correctness run nuttier than peanut brittle (apologies to peanut brittle). People often react sans a functioning brain without knowing the full history about the item that they're hyperventilating over. In this case, it happens to be the Stars & Bars battle flag (contrary to popular opinion, it wasn't the flag of the Confederacy).

Taken out of context, which people often do, posting a innocuous photograph of a battle flag will get you labeled all kinds of vicious untrue things. If done online, it can get you the application of the double standard, say like on FB, where your post can/will be pulled, can/get sternly reprimanded, and can/will be put into cyber jail.

Now normally, I don't give a you-know-what about what simple-minded-thin-skinned people think about me. I am what I am, and what you see/hear is what you get. But, sadly, when it comes to FB (who also owns Instagram btw), I have to watch what I do or say. I still need FB more than they really need me, and considering that not only do I have one blog labeled suspicious, but I have a book cover labeled as obscene, it really sucks to have to censor myself.

Thus, the pic on the right was not posted on FB. Instead, it's posted on this blog, for reasonable people like you to discuss amongst yourself about how a symbol or a word, can be hijacked and turned into something bad. In this particular case, the battle flag was part of a reenactment that was performed by some Confederate troops.

Life indeed can be weird, and it can be made depressingly weird by those who have translucent skin and brains to match. Which in turn can make you feel like a hypocrite when you're trying to keep your principles and morals intact.

Exactly. But people have gone overboard in regards to that common sense thought. If you recall, an app store wanted the creators of a Civil War game to scrub all the Confederate flags out of the game. This happened right after that despicable shooting in SC last year.

I have a sneaky suspicion that is what happened to me yesterday (6/7) on FB. I made a comment on someone's wall after he had set the ground rules about no bashing any Democrats. So I said, "I'm voting for The Donald". I think it got deleted.

Symbols sometimes get irretrievably ruined by their association with undeniable historical horrors and crimes. That's just the way it is. When that happens, accept it gracefully and move on. Look what happened to that poor innocent swastika symbol. Forever ruined now because Hitler chose to use it to symbolize his Third Reich but oh well, c'est la vie. The Stars and Bars should no more be "rehabilitated" than the Nazi flag. History has spoken.

I try, but it's really hard. I feel much the same way about language as well. To me, the English language (of all varieties) is a beautiful thing, and certain words have been hijacked and ruined by people declaring that those certain words hurt people. But, to my way of thinking, a word can only hurt if you let it hurt you.

The deal is the flag. More often than not, people take things out of context and get their panties in a bunch. A flag is a flag is a flag is a flag. Some flags are worth getting snippy about. This one isn't.

Sadly, while that philosophy may have worked in the late 80's/early 90's, by the turn of the decade political correctness got a death grip on everyone's psyche. I can quote numerous examples of revisionism run amuck, but that's another post for another time.

I had more than my fair share in the chat rooms from '07 thru '09, and it was because of that lunacy that I decided to do blogging. I'm seeing a milder version on FB, and having acquired a permanent seat in level one of their jail, I'm not looking forward to moving up in that world.

That is true, but lately it seems that the rule of thumb is to hysterically shoot from the lip and get clarification later, maybe. I just didn't want to get a whole bunch of lip from sanctimonious people who have translucent skin.